Moving on...

All the thoughts about the soon to be aftermath of the decision to quit her job with Rick caused her to get a limited amount of sleep. She couldn't figure out why this bothered her so much. Daryl turned on his side, noticing Michonne sitting up in the bed.

"It's six in the mornin" He yawned.

"Couldn't sleep. I can make you breakfast"

"You don't have too, I'll grab something quick before I leave" She was use too cooking Rick's breakfast early, but was slowly trying to adjust on a different way of living. When she laid back down she moved a little closer to Daryl. He gave her a little smile and readjusted the covers over them.

Usually on this particular morning Rick and Michonne would work this shift together. Walking up the street she seen Rick waiting for her at their usual spot, but instead took a short cut to avoid changing her mind. Waiting no time she pulled Deanna aside to talk.

"So, what can I do for you"

"I was wondering if I can switch jobs" She says in a neutral tone.

"Reason? You're really good at guarding the town" She takes a deep breath

"I just need a change, that's all" She avoided telling her the real reason. Deanna flipped through some pages in her job book.

"Well there is a one more spot open for supply runs, is that okay?" Michonne wrapped her head around the fact that she would no longer be Rick's right hand woman but still agreed to take the job.

"Okay you, Abraham, Glenn, and Tara are the ones in charge of supply runs" Deanna handed her a list of supplies to pick up.

"Food is running low, can you handle getting what we need?" She nodded.

"Turn in your uniform" After she took off her jacket she held onto it for a minute. Everything from how they use to work together as a team to all the things that happened since being here was hitting her all at once. But she knew if she wanted to give Daryl all of her and have his back like a girlfriend should this needed to be done. She handed Deanna the jacket and walked out of her office. Maggie was helping Glenn pack the supply can with extra ammunition when she noticed Michonne coming towards her.

"You're off work today?" She asked, noticing she had her sword on her back.

"No, I do supply runs now"

"Sweet" Glenn smiled.

"Good, we got another set of muscles coming with us" Abraham said, giving Michonne a pat on the shoulder. Maggie kissed her man goodbye and everyone proceeded to get in the van.

Rick notice Michonne leaving with Glenn and the others but didn't think anything of it. Before his night shift began he went to Deanna's office to talk about adding Michonne to the night job.

"Hello Rick" He sat down in the chair.

"I want Michonne to take an extra shift with me during the night hours"

"I'm sorry, I can't do that"

"She's my partner, we already discussed it" Judging by the look on his face and the assertive tone in his voice, this conversation wasn't gonna go anywhere.

"I'm not giving her an extra shift with you" She closed her drawer.

"Why not?"

"Because she doesn't work security anymore" Rick get his heart drop to his stomach in disbelief that she quit without telling him.

"She turned her uniform in this morning. I'll work on finding you another partner, alright?"

"Don't need one" He stormed out of the office, hitting the wall on the way out the front door. Rick felt confused about her quitting, to him they were still a team and always talked about things. That quickly turned to anger when he thought about Daryl trying to turn Michonne against him. To him, Daryl was trying to start something he couldn't finish.

XXX

After work Rick went home and grabbed a drink from the fridge, noticing Carl sitting by the window.

"You okay?"

"No dad I'm not" He noticed a shift in his tone.

"What's on you mind?"

"Like you ever cared" Carl stood up.

"What was that?"

"You heard me. You've been sitting around here acting all depressed and never once asked how I was. You never thought once how your stupid decision would effect us. This is your fault, you brought this on yourself" He started raising his voice.

"Watch it Carl" He slammed his fist on the counter.

"Screw you. There's a lot of things I won't speak up but this hurts me, so your gonna listen to me instead of you listening to yourself. Michonne did everything for you, took care of Judith, the group, you. She saved your life, she did nothing but love you and for what to find out you never loved her in the first place"

"You don't know how I feel about her or our personal relationship"

"I know enough to know that you used a good women. Do you really think we could of survived this long without her? She has cuts and bruises on her face because of you" Tears started rolling down Carl's face.

"Out of all the men in the group I was supposed to look up to my dad, the leader, the good guy, the one man Michonne ever had a romantic connection with and you screwed her over look she meant nothing to you. I look after her more then you do and that's what she expected from you, but you failed her. She's like a mother to me and you knew that. And If you expect me to accept Jessie with open arms you're dead wrong" His face started to turn red.

"I want Michonne back dad. Judith misses her too. I want our family back"

"Carl..." He walked over to him and tried to console him but he pushed him away.

"You took the only family i had left away from me. When mom died... I was numb for a long, didn't care about anyone or anything time until she came around. Even though I was so mean to her in the beginning she never gave up on me. Now, things won't be the same between us" He leaned against the counter and continued to break down. Rick managed to hold his son but Carl kept trying to break free by pushing and screaming.

"Get away from me! I hate you" With one more forceful push Carl managed to break free from his grip and ran out of the front door, ignoring his father words.

XXX

Michonne is sitting on the porch swing, enjoying the cool night breeze when a crying Carl approaches her.

"Carl, what happened?" He just stood there with his head down. She knew he had an argument with Rick.

"Come here" He came closer and embraced her. Hearing his muffled cries tugged at her heart.

"I don't wanna lose our friendship. I appreciate you and everything you've done for the family..." He held her tighter. Knowing Carl is fighting hard for her to stay around made her feel more resentment towards Rick.

"Me, you, and Judith are still a team. I love you too much to let you go" He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you" He said with a warm smile. She smiled back at him and dried his tears. Suddenly Carl's stomach growls loudly; she forgot about how bad of a cook Rick was.

"Come on, I'll make you something to eat"

Michonne prepared a plate of homemade macaroni salad, with a tall glass of peach juice. She sat on the couch next to Carl, laughing at him quickly devouring his late night snack.

"I don't wanna go home" He didn't want to go back to a heated environment.

"Carl..."

"Please, I just want to stay here for the night" He pleaded.

"Okay you can sleep here, I'll go get the blanket"

By the time she came back with the sleep gear he was already laying down on the couch. She gently placed the blanket over him and shared a moment with him before he went to sleep. Michonne met Daryl back in the bedroom; little to her knowledge Carl didn't go to sleep right away. Knowing she had a new man in her life he felt obligated to keep her safe from getting hurt by another man. He tip toed towards her room to do a bit of spying; luckily the door was slightly cracked.

"Is Carl okay?"

"Yeah, he's asleep on the couch" She sat on the front edge of the bed.

"I switched jobs today, I do supply runs now" He wanted to be happy but felt concerned about her returning to that environment, since she hasn't been herself lately.

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, you sound concerned" He walked up to her.

"Just don't want you to get hurt" She chuckled and held both of his hands.

"I have these hands keeping me safe from harm. And this new job means more time I get to spend with you" She stood up and kissed him.

Carl watched Daryl embrace Michonne in his arms, looking at the way he kiss her with such passion, and how gently he handled her. He could see the chemistry between the two of them. Tip toeing back to the couch he tried figuring out why his dad hurt Michonne the way he did. Why is this Jessie girl more important to you then Michonne? Old memories of their home life started to cloud his mind, the way he carried Judith into the room to wake Michonne up, her warm motherly smile, and hearing her voice every day. He wanted her back home but not if that cost her happiness. Carl felt the need to step up and become a better man, since his dad wasn't capable of fulfilling that role anymore.

Back at Jessie's house she told Pete about wanting to get a divorce, which started an argument. As they kept going back and forth with each other he walked out of the house to avoid hitting her again. He sat on the bench outside to cool off and collect his thoughts. Looking out in the distance a house caught his attention; he might have found a new person of interest to pursue.